Thomas was sure that escape from the Maze would mean freedom for him and the Gladers. But WICKED isn’t done yet. Phase Two has just begun. The Scorch.

There are no rules. There is no help. You either make it or you die.

The Gladers have two weeks to cross through the Scorch—the most burned-out section of the world. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them.

Friendships will be tested. Loyalties will be broken. All bets are off.

There are others now. Their survival depends on the Gladers’ destruction—and they’re determined to survive.

“The Scorch Trials” by James Dashner

About the author:

James is the author of THE MAZE RUNNER trilogy and THE 13TH REALITY series. He also published a series (beginning with A DOOR IN THE WOODS) with a small publisher several years ago. He lives and writes in the Rocky Mountains.

My review:

Warning: Some spoilers may be included for this book and the first book!

It feels like Thomas both is and is not developing as a human, a character, a growing person. I know; it makes no sense. I don’t know how that makes sense in my mind, but I guess it really doesn’t. It just feels like he’s more one dimensional than the others. Newt feels like a real person. Minho feels like a real person. Teresa feels like – Well, actually Theresa feels about like Thomas, to me. Sort of not fully developed. I felt that way with the first book, too.

Maybe they’re supposed to complete each other when together? If so, that probably won’t be happening based on the way Thomas is feeling/behaving when this book ended! Teresa is labeled “The Betrayer” in this book by WICKED. For all that “WICKED is good,” they’re not doing a very good job of proving it. They pulled these kids out of the maze, killed a shit ton of them in the maze, and then dropped them in the Scorch. Essentially, hell.

Imagine planet Arrakis from the Dune books (before the planet was turned green). Add in people literally out of their minds and murderous to the point of cannibalism. Add in lightning and wind storms that show up out of nowhere. Now replace the stillsuits with bedsheets and a very low supply of food and water. There you go. That’s the Scorch. Or, at least, that’s how I saw it in my mind.

As with the first in this series, I give this book 3.0 out of 5.0 stars. I still liked the book and I’m liking the series, but I can’t actually give a reason as to why. Obviously it hit the mark with a ton of people for the firsttwo books to have been turned into movies. (They’re making the third one right? Oh good, Google says it’s due out February of 2017.) And I adored the first movie; I’ll be watching the second one later this evening I think. I just feel like maybe another author could have done better? Either way, I’ve already started the third book.